Does casual arena use any type of MMR when deciding matches?
I currently have under four hours of total arena experience, all casual, and I’m being put against people with several days of play time. As expected, I lose in landslide fashion, typically getting beat so bad half my team quits. It’s not exactly a fun time and for someone who hasn’t played much competitive Halo since 3, it’s pretty disheartening.
Yes. Even social playlists use hidden MMR to try and find the best matches for players (ideally where each team has a 50% change at victory). Though in social, the matchmaker starts to look for less even matches after only 40 seconds in queue, and every so often keeps expanding the skill gap, eventually allowing for up to matches with odds of 70-30 (I think). Social playlists prioritize finding matches more often and more quickly than ranked, where ranked prioritizes finding the most even matches. If you want closer matches, your best bet is actually ranked. In ranked, the maximum skill gap allowed is 60-40, and the matchmaker doesn’t start opening the skill gap until around 90 seconds (I think).
MMR isn’t based on playtime, though. I know some players who have played for years and only have the skill of a silver player. There are also some players with only a few hours playtime but have natural talent to be better than average. But Halo 5 is almost 3 years old now, and the population is not as large as it was in its first year. Lower population means lower quality matches across the board.
Thanks for the info.
I’m aware playtime does not equal how talented a player is, but it’s typically a pretty good measuring stick. Before posting I did my homework on the players. The ones I’m questioning were all diamond, platinum, and onyx. D:
I’ll switch to ranked soon as per your recommendation. I’ve been waiting until I had some practice before jumping in.